■ MEDIA
Chinese journalists approved
Taiwan opened its doors to regional media outlets in China on Thursday, granting approval to a television station and a newspaper group from China’s Fujian Province to post journalists in Taiwan. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) gave a green light to the applications filed by DongNan TV and the Fujian Daily Group, allowing journalists from the TV station and from three affiliated newspapers of the Fujian Daily Group to cover news in Taiwan for up to three months per visit.
■ POLITICS
Lai visits protester
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) and legislators Twu Shiing-jer (??, Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) visited 80-year-old Liu Po-yan (劉柏煙) at National Taiwan University Hospital yesterday. Liu, who suffered second and third degree burns on 80 percent of his body on Tuesday after setting himself on fire in a protest at Liberty Square, was still in critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday, hospital officials said. DPP legislators donated cash to Liu’s family and told them that if they couldn’t afford the treatment costs, DPP members would help raise money. “At first, we were afraid [Liu’s family] would be offended by our visit, because we are DPP and Liu is not … But we felt we needed to [visit], especially since no one from the KMT went [to see him],” Tien said.
■ POLITICS
DPP official detained
Former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lin Wen-lang (林文郎) was detained by Taichung prosecutors yesterday on suspicion of manipulating stock prices. Prosecutors were investigating another case of alleged stock manipulation concerning investor Chang Shih-chieh (張世傑) when they discovered Lin’s alleged crime. Prosecutors said evidence suggested Lin worked with Chang to manipulate the stock price of Ching Me Ke Long Chemical Co (金美克能化工公司), a cosmetics manufacturer. Prosecutors said Lin had given evidence on part of the case and they were trying to locate other potential witnesses and defendants.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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